Neste studies plastic waste processing facility

AS IT works to commercialise chemical recycling of plastic waste, Neste is conducting a feasibility study as it considers investing in liquefied waste plastic processing capacity at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland.

To produce drop-in petrochemical feeds from liquefied plastic waste, intermediate refining capacity is needed to remove detrimental impurities and optimise the chemical composition of the material. The capacity would support Neste in achieving its target of processing more than 1m t/y of plastic waste from 2030 onwards.

Neste plans to scale up processing capabilities by using proprietary technologies to pre-treat and upgrade liquefied plastic waste, and these technologies would be integrated into refinery operations. In the first step, it is targeting capacity of 400,000 t/y.

As it considers developing and building capabilities at Porvoo, Neste will evaluate options for innovative funding, and work closely with local authorities responsible for supervising environmental aspects of the project. Following the feasibility study, Nest plans to achieve investment decision readiness for 2023 and begin gradual implementation in 2024.

The company has already successfully completed the first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic at Porvoo, and additional runs will continue over this year.

Markku Korvenranta, Executive VP of Oil Products at Neste, said that capacity will support Neste in becoming Europe’s most sustainable refinery by 2030, while supporting the transition to circular polymers.

Mercedes Alonso, Executive VP of Renewables Polymers and Chemicals at Neste, said: “We are a forerunner in refining liquefied waste plastic into drop-in petrochemical feeds. By scaling up our processing capabilities, we enhance our ability to process hard-to-recycle waste plastics and help enable our value chain partners to deliver substantial volumes of high-quality materials from recycled feedstock.”